A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to high voltage DC power supplies and in particular to a compact easily removable support assembly for electrical components.
B. Background Art
Conventional power supplies have been limited in the manner in which the various electrical components have been supported within the unit. For example, conventional D.C. power supplies have left much to be desired in their requirement that the electronic components such as rectifiers, voltage and current sense networks, and switch assembly be mounted on a rig directly connected and not easily removable from the transformer itself. The entire transformer as well as its associated electronics as a complete unit was inserted into the tank. Specifically, the steps of construction have, in the past, required that the rig be fastened to the transformer and that the components be attached, either individually or as stacked assemblies, to the rig. Since the components were both physically and electronically attached to the transformer and because the components consisted of many individual pieces requiring numerous couplings and fasteners, expensive labor has been required to assemble the unit prior to placing it within the tank.
Also the electrical components were undesirably attached to the transformer on a piece by piece basis so that the unit could only be constructed at the transformer site, i.e. whereever the transformer was located. The rig and its electrical components could never be economically assembled elsewhere and brought to the transformer site for easy installation in the tank and quick attachment to the transformer. The disadvantage of this prior method of construction has been that the entire unit would have to be removed from the tank in order to repair a faulty electrical component; an expensive and time consuming task even for the most minor of electrical failures. This has entailed the use of expensive, heavy equipment lifts each time a unit had to be removed from its housing for repair.
The entire top of the tank had to be completely open in order to be able to receive, at the same time, the transformer and its attached electronic component rig. The unit had the drawback of being bulky and inefficiently structured thereby taking up an excessive amount of space and requiring the use of a large amount of coolant. Because of the large opening, more than one cover was undesirably required. One cover was designed primarily for a quick maintenance inspection. A second cover has been required in order to gain access to the interior of the tank for actual removal and replacement of the electrical components. However, it was typically too heavy for simple manual removal. Furthermore, the cover had to, first, be disconnected from the bus ducting and that, in itself, required numerous disassembly procedures.